*The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria says even though economic activity began to recover amid the pandemic, inflation started to accelerate especially for food items that are crucial for consumption among the poor and vulnerable

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Against the backdrop of the damaging impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related socio-economic factors, the World Bank has predicted tougher months ahead as household real disposable incomes in Nigeria are expected to face an “exceptional squeeze”.

ConsumerConnect gathered Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, who stated this in Abuja, FCT, indicated that the COVID-19 crisis in the country worsened pre-existing structural distortions, including trade distortions, such as 2019 border closure, which were already raising prices and eroding consumers’ purchasing power before the pandemic.

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Chaudhuri also stated: “This, in turn, explains the near-stagnation in household real disposable incomes that have preceded the exceptional squeeze expected this year.”

According to the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, “however, the extent to which the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war would drive the economy further into poverty as well as permanently making it less productive is still unknown.”

The World Bank, in its latest report titled ‘Nigeria Poverty Assessment 2022’, had disclosed that several primary effects of the pandemic had been more economic-related rather than health-related, partly due to Nigeria’s pre-crisis conditions.

The Bank stated in the report that “in the more recent stages of the COVID-19 crisis, even though economic activity began to recover, inflation started to accelerate especially for food items that are crucial for consumption among the poor and vulnerable.”